Prof. Dr. Christian Erik Pohl
Prof. Dr. Christian Erik Pohl
Head of Institute for Environmental Decisions / Head of TdLab
Additional information
Course Catalogue
Spring Semester 2024
Number | Unit |
---|---|
701-0008-00L | Tackling Environmental Problems II |
701-0034-17L | Integration of Practica |
Position at ETH
- 2024 – today | Head of Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED)
- 2022 – today | Titularprofessor (Adjunct Professor), ETH Zürich
- 2013 – today | Senior Scientist, Co-Director USYS TdLab, ETH Zürich
Research Area
During my studies of environmental sciences, my PhD on uncertainty in LCA, and my postdoc in science studies, I observed that interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research was re-invented every time a new project was started. There was no systematic learning and no body of knowledge on how to conceptualize and practice such collaborative research. Since the late 1990s and together with colleagues from around the world, I am trying to build up such a body of knowledge, as for instance by the external pagePrinciples for Designing Transdisciplinary Researchcall_made, the external pageHandbook of Transdisciplinary Researchcall_made, external pagetd-net’s toolbox for co-producing knowledgecall_made or by external pageOn which common ground to build?call_made.
Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research are means to an end. In the context of our department, this end is sustainable development. Sustainable development requires tackling complex and societally contested issues. I am committed to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research because I consider both the key means to do so.
Further Academic Positions
- Member of the external pagesteering committee of NRP 82 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Servicescall_made, Swiss National Science Foundation
- external pageChair of U Changecall_made, run by the Network for Transdisciplinary Research (td-net), Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences
- Member of external pagescientific advisory board of transdisciplinarity-net (td-net)call_made, Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences
- Founding editor of external pagetd-net’s toolbox for co-producing knowledgecall_made
- Founding member of the editorial board for the external pageTeam Science Toolkit of the US National Cancer Institutecall_made
- Editor of external pageSustainability Sciencecall_made
Awards
- 2020: KITE Award (Award for Key Innovation in Teaching at ETH) for the BSc course "Umweltproblemlösen" (Tackling Environmental Problems)
- 2015: Swiss-academies award for transdisciplinary research, for the contribution to Sabine Hoffmann’s research on methods of synthesis in the National Research Programme “Sustainable Water Management” (NRP 61)
- 2010: Ramamoorthy and Yeh Transdisciplinary Distinguished Achievement Award of the Academy of Transdisciplinary Learning and Advanced Studies (Georgetown, Texas).